Response to Harmonic

Excitation

Dr Ajoy D
Fellow, Institution of Engineers
 Introduction (Ch-II)

This chapter considers the response to harmonic excitation

of the single-degree-of-freedom spring–mass–damper
system.
Harmonic excitation refers to a sinusoidal external force of
a single frequency applied to the system.
Harmonic excitations are a common source of external
force applied to machines and structures. Rotating
machines such as fans, electric motors, and reciprocating
engines transmit a sinusoidally varying force to adjacent
components.
 Harmonic Excitation of Damped
System
Consider the system
shown below for the case
of negligible damping.
There are several ways to
model the harmonic
nature of the applied
force, F(t). A harmonic
function can be
represented as a sine, a
cosine, or a complex
exponential. In the
following, the driving force
F(t) is chosen to be of the
form;
Where F0 represents the
maximum amplitude
Alternately, the harmonic forcing function can be
represented as the sin or as the complex exponential.

where j is the imaginary unit

Summing forces on the mass in the x direction for the

undamped case

Dividing both side by m, we get, where f0 = F0/m

 Method of Undetermined
Coefficients
Solution is of the form
where xp denotes the particular solution and X is the
amplitude of the forced response.
 Solution of the an Undamped
Homogeneous Vibration Problem
Since the system is linear, the total solution x(t) is the sum of
the particular solution plus the homogeneous solution given
by equation A sin(ωnt + ϕ) can be represented as A1 sin
ωnt + A2 cos ωnt, the total solution can be expressed in the
form;

Let the initial position and velocity be given by the constants

x0 and v0
And

Solving for A1 and A2 and substituting, we get

 Harmonic Excitation of Damped
Systems
In this section, the response of a viscously damped single-
degree-of-freedom system subjected to harmonic excitation
is considered. The equation of motion is;

Dividing by mass m
Solution of the Damped Homogeneous
Vibration Problem (0 < 𝛇 < 1)
Following the method of undetermined coefficients, the
particular solution is assumed to be of the form

To make the computations easy to follow, this is written in

the equivalent form

Taking derivatives of the assumed form of the solution

This equation must hold for all time, in particular for t = π/2ω,
so that the coefficient of sin ωt must vanish. Similarly, for t = 0
the coefficient of cos ωt must vanish. This yields the two
equations

When written as the single matrix equation

Which has solution,

And

The total solution,